Take That begin record £50m tour

TAKE That are to embark on the biggest tour the UK and Ireland have ever seen, playing to more than a million
people at 20 stadium concerts.
Those are more fans than watched Michael Jackson in 1988 or saw the biggest runs by acts like U2 and The
Rolling Stones. Fans have spent £50m on tickets for the former boyband’s Circus Live tour, which starts in
Sunderland later.
It comes amid a summer of massive gigs, with Oasis, Jackson, Britney Spears, Coldplay and Madonna all on
the road.
“I think it’s a bit of escape for everybody,” Take That star Gary Barlow told the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba. “It’s one night
in the year that they can go out, enjoy themselves, sing songs that maybe mean something to them in their lives,
something they’ve carried with them for years.”
Take That will play to 94,000 fans at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light over two nights on Friday and Saturday,
before moving on to Coventry, Dublin, Cardiff and Glasgow.
They then play five nights at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground and four shows at Wembley Stadium in
London, finishing this time next month.
“It’s unique,” said their promoter, Simon Moran of SJM Concerts.
“It’s testament to their huge popularity and the quality of the previous tours. The word of mouth has been
tremendous on the last three runs of dates they’ve done since they got back together.” – BBC
He said the total attendance of 1,080,000 would be higher than for Jackson’s Bad tour.